Ch. Nenin
Pomerol
2010

The producer

Pomerol estate, Chateau Nenin, was acquired by Jean-Hubert Delon – owner of Saint Julien estate Leoville Las Cases – in 1997, and major investments were made in the vineyard and cellar. It was however not until the middle of the 2010s that quality really started improving with reduced yields, better ripeness of the fruit selection, and as such improved wine quality.

Nenin’s 32 hectares are situated just outside the village of Catusseau, and planted to around 80% Merlot, along with some Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. Most of the vineyard land is adjacent to the vineyards of Chateau Trotanoy and the vine age is around 35 years. Nenin is one of the larger Pomerol properties.

The wine

The grape composition of Nenin’s Grand Vin varies with vintage conditions and grape ripeness, but generally consists of 80% Merlot along with smaller portions of Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. The average vine age is around 35 years. Fermentation takes place in stainless steel tanks and ageing lasts around 18 months in French oak barrels, of which 30% are new. Nenin’s are structured and black fruited wines, and generally starts drinking at around 3-5 years of age.

We choose our wines based on a range of criteria (see how we choose our wines) of which critic scores is just one. Rather than simply highlight the best score to promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more weight to more recent reviews. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a 92/100 average critic score or better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add individual critic scores to our website in the future.